The Qur’anic Root ʾ J L

1. Introducing the root and its Qur’anic forms

The Arabic root أ ج ل has several semantic branches. The principal one concerns a period, deadline, or appointed endpoint in time. أَجَل (ajal) can denote the period specified for doing something, the time when an obligation must be fulfilled, the end of a span of life, or the appointed time of a particular event.

In Arabic, a debt whose payment is assigned a date can be muʾajjal, payable at an appointed time. If a period is allowed for completing something, its endpoint is called ajal. Of human life, too, when a person’s lifespan ends, one says that his ajal has arrived.

But ajal does not itself mean death. Death is one event that may accompany the arrival of an ajal. The Qur’an also uses the word for the end of a waiting period after divorce, a debt’s maturity, a contractual period, a community’s allotted time, and the appointed time of other events.

Another branch is recognized in أَجْل (ajl), cause or reason. The Qur’anic expression مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ (min ajli dhālik) means “for that reason” or “because of that.” This differs from ajal meaning a period or appointed time.

Early Arabic also records other meanings under this family, including أَجَلْ (ajal), “yes”; إِجْل (ijl), a herd of wild animals; and ijl, neck pain. These meanings should not be reduced to a temporal notion without sufficient evidence.

Qur’anic forms

The root أ ج ل occurs 56 times in 48 Qur’anic verses. Its forms belong to four groups:

• أَجَل (ajal), including forms with attached pronouns or prepositions: 52 occurrences, such as أَجَلًا (ajalan), أَجَلٌ (ajalun), أَجَلِهِ (ajalihi), أَجَلُهُمْ (ajaluhum), أَجَلُهُنَّ (ajaluhunna), and الْأَجَلَيْنِ (al-ajalayni). Their principal field is a period or appointed endpoint.
• أَجَّلَ (ajjala): twice, as أَجَّلْتَ (ajjalta) in Al-Anʿām 6:128 and أُجِّلَتْ (ujjilat) in Al-Mursalāt 77:12: assigning a time or referring something to an appointed time.
• مُؤَجَّل (muʾajjal): once, as مُؤَجَّلًا (muʾajjalan) in Āl ʿImrān 3:145: something assigned an appointed time.
• أَجْل (ajl): once, in Al-Māʾidah 5:32, in مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ (min ajli dhālik), expressing cause or reason.

The recognized plural of ajal, آجَال (ājāl), exists in Arabic but does not occur in the Qur’an in that form.

Ājāl should therefore not be listed as a separate derivative actually occurring in the Qur’an.

In temporal uses, the word often accompanies descriptions such as مُسَمًّى (musammā), قَرِيب (qarīb), and مَعْدُود (maʿdūd). These descriptions contribute independently; their meanings should not become fixed components of the root أ ج ل.

2. Ajal in early Arabic: periods, deadlines, and distinct branches

Ajal: a period’s limit and endpoint

In Arabic, ajal denotes the period appointed for something and its endpoint in time.

Two aspects of this use are closely connected: the period during which something continues, and the time when that period ends.

For example, if someone undertakes to repay a debt at the end of a month, the month is the obligation’s period and its end is the payment deadline.

Arabic can express both aspects through ajal.

Ajal therefore cannot be said always to denote only an instant, never a period, or conversely always an entire period, never its endpoint.

In إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (ilā ajalin musammā), the endpoint matters.

In قَضَى الْأَجَلَ (qaḍā al-ajal), completing or fulfilling the appointed period is prominent.

The sentence’s construction makes the distinction clear.

Lexical sources recognize أَجَلُ الدَّيْنِ (ajalu al-dayn) for a debt’s maturity and أَجَلُ الْإِنْسَانِ (ajalu al-insān) for the end of a human lifespan.

Debt and life are nevertheless different subjects. All the features of one cannot be transferred to the other.

Taʾjīl: assigning a time and postponing

أَجَّلَ (ajjala) is Form II and concerns assigning an ajal or leaving something until an appointed time.

In Arabic, أَجَّلْتُ الدَّيْنَ (ajjaltu al-dayn) means that I allowed time for repayment of a debt or deferred it until a particular time.

Muʾajjal likewise describes something whose payment or occurrence has been related to an appointed time.

We should nevertheless distinguish assigning a time from moving a previously assigned time later.

In some uses, taʾjīl simply assigns an interval. In others, it concerns an action referred to another time.

The morphological pattern ajjala alone does not establish that another deadline necessarily existed beforehand and has now been changed.

The distinction also matters in the Qur’an, particularly in Al-Mursalāt 77:12 and Al-Anʿām 6:128.

Ājil contrasted with ʿājil

Arabic calls something آجِل (ājil) when its occurrence or receipt belongs to the future, in contrast to عاجل (ʿājil), something immediate or arriving soon.

Ājil belongs to أ ج ل (ʾ J L), whereas ʿājil comes from ع ج ل (ʿ J L).

Their meanings contrast, but they are not one root.

Persian also recognizes ājil for something deferred or future and ʿājil for something immediate or urgent.

In Arabic, الآجلة (al-ājilah) sometimes denotes the Hereafter and العاجلة (al-ʿājilah) worldly life, since worldly life is present in current human experience while the Hereafter lies ahead.

This use does not establish that every Qur’anic ajal means the Hereafter.

The maturity of a debt, a marriage-related term, or a contractual deadline can also belong to this worldly life.

An example from Arabic poetry

Early lexical sources transmit this half-line:

وَغَايَةُ الْأَجِيلِ مَهْوَاةُ الرَّدَى

wa-ghāyatu al-ajīli mahwātu al-radā

“And the end of the one granted time is the abyss of death.”

Here al-ajīl concerns something or someone allowed time until a particular point.

The half-line recalls the limited duration of life.

Its poet and precise date of composition are not clear in the account examined. It should therefore not be presented as securely dated pre-Islamic poetry.

Ajīl itself does not mean death either: in the poet’s image, the ending of life’s allotted time is linked with death.

Ajl as cause and an injurious act

Another branch of this family concerns أَجْل (ajl), cause or reason.

In Arabic, مِنْ أَجْلِهِ (min ajlihi) means because of him or on his account.

Ibn Fāris connects this use with a verb denoting committing or bringing about an act, particularly a harmful one.

Poetry attributed to Khawwāt ibn Jubayr includes:

وَأَهْلِ خِبَاءٍ صَالِحٍ ذَاتُ بَيْنِهِمْ
قَدِ احْتَرَبُوا فِي عَاجِلٍ أَنَا آجِلُهْ

wa-ahli khibāʾin ṣāliḥin dhātu baynihim / qadi iḥtarabū fī ʿājilin anā ājiluh

“And people of a tent, whose relations had been good, fought over an immediate affair of which I was the cause.”

Here ājiluhu refers to someone involved in bringing about the event.

This example helps identify the word’s causal branch, distinguishing its meaning from a deadline or period.

Khawwāt ibn Jubayr lived through the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods, but the verse’s attribution is not uniform. Abū ʿUbaydah’s Majāz al-Qurʾān attributes it to Al-Khinnawt, while Ibn Barrī reports its presence in some versions of Zuhayr’s poetry and its absence from Al-Aṣmaʿī’s version. A poet’s name alone therefore does not securely date this example before or after Islam. Its value here is to demonstrate the causal use of ājil in early Arabic transmission.

Lexical explanations sometimes describe min ajli dhālik as developing from bringing about an injurious act into the general sense of cause.

This development does not mean that every use of min ajl necessarily involves a crime or sin.

In general Arabic usage, “because of” can express the cause of something good, bad, or neutral.

Other branches that should not be overlooked

In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris explicitly states that أ ج ل has several distinct bases that cannot readily all be derived from one meaning.

The group includes ijl for a herd of wild cattle or similar animals.

A poem of Labīd describes animals gathering into such groups.

In another use, ijl names a pain in the neck. Verbal forms concerning its treatment and relief are also reported.

مَأْجَل (maʾjal) also denotes a basin or place where water is collected and retained for later use.

Conversely, أَجَلْ (ajal) is recognized as a response to a statement meaning “yes” or “that is correct.”

These are actual Arabic uses, but none of ijl meaning a herd or neck pain, maʾjal meaning a basin, or ajal meaning “yes” occurs in the Qur’an with that meaning.

An image such as “everything reaching its end” or “everything gathering at one point” should therefore not be invented to unify every branch.

In root studies, preserving actual linguistic differences is more precise than constructing an unsupported semantic unity.

3. Ajal in human life: lifespan and the time of death

One of the best-known Qur’anic uses of ajal is the end of a human lifespan.

This use should nevertheless be examined alongside those unrelated to death, so that the word’s definition does not become too narrow.

Death and an appointed decree

Āl ʿImrān, 3:145

وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَنْ تَمُوتَ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ كِتَابًا مُؤَجَّلًا ۗ وَمَنْ يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَنْ يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ الْآخِرَةِ نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا ۚ وَسَنَجْزِي الشَّاكِرِينَ

wa-mā kāna li-nafsin an tamūta illā bi-idhni allāhi kitāban muʾajjalan; wa-man yurid thawāba al-dunyā nuʾtihi minhā wa-man yurid thawāba al-ākhirati nuʾtihi minhā; wa-sanajzī al-shākirīn

“No soul can die except by permission of The God: a written decree with an appointed time. Whoever desires the reward of this world, We give him of it; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, We give him of it. We will reward the grateful.”

Here muʾajjalan qualifies kitāban.

The combination shows that death in the verse’s context is associated with something decreed and assigned an appointed time.

Muʾajjal itself nevertheless does not mean death. It expresses the assigning of a time or term.

Death is expressed by أَنْ تَمُوتَ (an tamūt).

Kitāban also belongs to ك ت ب (K T B) and should not be equated with ajal itself.

The context concerns human death, seeking worldly or otherworldly reward, and recompense for the grateful. The statement about death’s appointed time therefore belongs to a broader construction involving human responsibility and choice.

The root أ ج ل alone does not allow us to determine from this verse the details of every event leading to death.

Wa-lan yuʾakhkhira Allāhu nafsan

Al-Munāfiqūn, 63:11

وَلَنْ يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهَا ۚ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

wa-lan yuʾakhkhira allāhu nafsan idhā jāʾa ajaluhā; wa-allāhu khabīrun bi-mā taʿmalūn

“The God will grant no soul further time when its appointed term arrives; and The God is fully aware of what you do.”

Here ajal concerns the arrival of life’s endpoint.

The preceding verse speaks of someone who, when faced with death, wishes for a short reprieve to give charity and become one of the righteous.

Verse eleven then states that such time is not granted once the ajal arrives.

Here ajal marks the end of the opportunity for action that a person had in worldly life.

This use should not lead us to conclude that every Qur’anic mention of ajal necessarily concerns the end of physical life.

The same root also occurs for a debt’s maturity and the end of an agreement’s term.

Inna ajala Allāhi idhā jāʾa lā yuʾakhkhar

Nūḥ, 71:4

يَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ مِنْ ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرْكُمْ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۚ إِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ إِذَا جَاءَ لَا يُؤَخَّرُ ۖ لَوْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

yaghfir lakum min dhunūbikum wa-yuʾakhkhirkum ilā ajalin musammā; inna ajala allāhi idhā jāʾa lā yuʾakhkhar; law kuntum taʿlamūn

“That He may forgive you of your sins and grant you time until an appointed term. Indeed, when the appointed time of The God arrives, it is not delayed—if you only knew.”

The verse places two points together: allowing time until an appointed term, and not postponing an appointed time once it has arrived.

They should not be treated as contradictory without attention to context.

Having time until a specified point is consistent with the statement that no further opportunity is granted after that time ends.

For example, someone may have an opportunity to complete something until the end of a particular period, yet no longer possess that opportunity once the period has ended.

This example only clarifies the temporal construction. All the details of a divinely appointed time should not be equated with a human contract.

The network of verses concerning the people of Nūḥ involves invitation, forgiveness, punishment, and the end of opportunity. The precise referent of each ajal requires examination of its context.

This verse alone cannot yield a complete theory of the changeability or unchangeability of every allotted human lifespan.

An individual’s ajal and a community’s ajal

Al-Aʿrāf, 7:34

وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ ۖ فَإِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةً وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ

wa-li-kulli ummatin ajalun; fa-idhā jāʾa ajaluhum lā yastaʾkhirūna sāʿatan wa-lā yastaqdimūn

“Every community has an appointed time. When their appointed time arrives, they neither remain behind it for a moment nor advance it.”

Here ajal is attributed to an ummah, a community.

The distinction is real.

Al-Munāfiqūn 63:11 spoke of nafsan, an individual soul.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:34 concerns a community.

A community’s ajal should therefore not be assumed without examination to mean the death date of each of its members.

A society may have a period of presence and power, after which its condition changes. In the Qur’anic context, the end of an opportunity or the arrival of a collective outcome may also be involved.

Yūnus 10:49, Al-Ḥijr 15:5, and Al-Muʾminūn 23:43 likewise contain related expressions concerning the allotted times of communities.

These uses show that ajal can also be attributed to a human collective.

They do not, however, establish a fixed, identical lifespan for every civilization or justify assigning a date to the destruction of a contemporary society from an assumed number.

The verses themselves supply no such number.

Two appointed times in Al-Anʿām

Al-Anʿām, 6:2

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ طِينٍ ثُمَّ قَضَىٰ أَجَلًا ۖ وَأَجَلٌ مُسَمًّى عِنْدَهُ ۖ ثُمَّ أَنْتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ

huwa alladhī khalaqakum min ṭīnin thumma qaḍā ajalan; wa-ajalun musamman ʿindahu; thumma antum tamtarūn

“He is the One who created you from clay, then decreed a term; and a named, specified time is with Him. Yet you doubt.”

Ajal occurs twice in this verse.

First: قَضَىٰ أَجَلًا (qaḍā ajalan).

Second: وَأَجَلٌ مُسَمًّى عِنْدَهُ (wa-ajalun musamman ʿindahu).

This distinction in the sentence is real and should not be removed.

Different explanations of the relationship between the two terms have been offered, including worldly lifespan and the time of resurrection, or life’s endpoint and a further stage afterward.

Another reading explains the distinction through two kinds of appointed time or two aspects of divine knowledge and decree.

The root أ ج ل itself does not determine that one must be death and the other the Resurrection.

Preferring a reading requires examining the verse’s construction, the verses about death and resurrection, and ʿindahu, “with Him.”

What is clear is that ajal in both instances concerns a period or appointed time. Identifying their precise referents goes beyond the root’s lexical definition.

Musammā also belongs to the family of naming and specifying. It qualifies ajal; its meaning should not be transferred into the word ajal itself.

4. Ajal in contracts, family life, and obligations

This group of verses clearly shows that Qur’anic ajal is not confined to death or the Resurrection.

A debt’s maturity

In Al-Baqarah 2:282, the Qur’an discusses a debt extending إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (ilā ajalin musammā).

The expression refers to a debt payable at a specified time: one with an appointed date for repayment.

The same verse goes on to discuss recording the debt, whether small or large, and writing its term.

Here ajal is the maturity of a financial obligation.

It should therefore not be understood as the debtor’s death or the end of the contracting parties’ lives.

Musammā in this context likewise concerns the specified nature of the date, particularly so that the parties can record and follow up their obligation.

Ajal itself does not, however, yield every rule concerning transactions, witnesses, usury, or guarantees.

The period of Mūsā’s undertaking

Al-Qaṣaṣ, 28:28

قَالَ ذَٰلِكَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ ۖ أَيَّمَا الْأَجَلَيْنِ قَضَيْتُ فَلَا عُدْوَانَ عَلَيَّ ۖ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ مَا نَقُولُ وَكِيلٌ

qāla dhālika baynī wa-baynaka; ayyamā al-ajalayni qaḍaytu fa-lā ʿudwāna ʿalayya; wa-allāhu ʿalā mā naqūlu wakīl

“He said: Let this agreement stand between me and you. Whichever of the two periods I complete, let there be no claim against me; and The God is guardian and witness over what we say.”

Here الْأَجَلَيْنِ (al-ajalayni) is the dual of ajal: two periods.

The preceding verse mentions eight years and the possibility of completing ten.

The two terms here therefore concern two contractual periods.

Neither is Mūsā’s death, nor is the other the time of the Resurrection.

The following verse also states that Mūsā completed al-ajal and then set out with his family.

This use is very clear: ajal can denote the entire period of an undertaking, while completing the ajal means passing through or fulfilling that period.

The two terms here do not mean two wholly unrelated contracts either. They are alternative periods within one agreement.

The end of the waiting period after divorce

Al-Baqarah 2:231 and Al-Baqarah 2:232 contain فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ (fa-balaghna ajalahunna).

Their contexts differ, however.

Verse 231 discusses retaining women honorably or releasing them honorably.

Verse 232 discusses not preventing women from entering a marriage on which the parties have honorably agreed.

Early explanations generally understand balaghna ajalahunna in the first verse as approaching the waiting period’s end, and in the second as completing it.

The distinction shows that reaching an ajal must be examined within the complete sentence.

A temporal expression may in one use indicate reaching the threshold of an endpoint, and in another the completion of the period.

This does not establish that the root ajal has acquired two wholly unrelated meanings.

Both concern the appointed waiting period. The precise difference is understood through the legal context and accompanying verbs.

These verses should likewise not be read in a way that disregards women’s rights and choices at the end of the waiting period. Legal examination requires the complete construction of the relevant verses.

The end of a pregnant woman’s waiting period

Al-Ṭalāq, 65:4

وَاللَّائِي يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمْ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلَاثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَاللَّائِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ ۚ وَأُولَاتُ الْأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَنْ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ۚ وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ يُسْرًا

wa-allāʾī yaʾisna mina al-maḥīḍi min nisāʾikum ini irtabtum fa-ʿiddatuhunna thalāthatu ashhurin wa-allāʾī lam yaḥiḍna; wa-ulātu al-aḥmāli ajaluhunna an yaḍaʿna ḥamlahunna; wa-man yattaqi allāha yajʿal lahu min amrihi yusrā

“For those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you are uncertain about their condition, their waiting period is three months; and likewise for those who have not menstruated. For pregnant women, the end of their waiting period is when they lay down their burden and give birth. Whoever is mindful of The God, He provides ease in that person’s affairs.”

The ajal of pregnant women is specified here by أَنْ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ (an yaḍaʿna ḥamlahunna).

In this context, ajal is therefore the waiting period’s conclusion through childbirth.

The lexical meaning of this use is quite clear.

It does not establish, however, that ajal in every verse means childbirth or the end of pregnancy.

Questions of age, marriage, conditions of divorce, and other family rules must likewise be examined separately from the root’s own meaning.

The term of rites and benefits from livestock

Al-Ḥajj, 22:33

لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ثُمَّ مَحِلُّهَا إِلَى الْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ

lakum fīhā manāfiʿu ilā ajalin musammā thumma maḥilluhā ilā al-bayti al-ʿatīq

“You have benefits in them until an appointed time; then their place of fulfillment and conclusion is toward the Ancient House.”

Here ajal concerns a period of benefiting from something within the context of sacred observances and rites.

An appointed time can therefore also concern a ritual act or one of its stages.

Ajal itself does not yield the number of days of the pilgrimage, the precise dates of the rites, or every detail of sacrifice.

Those matters require examination of the pilgrimage context and words such as shaʿāʾir, sacred observances, manāfiʿ, benefits, and maḥill, place or time of fulfillment.

5. Ajal for communities, the world, and future events

Time allowed before consequences arrive

Several verses associate ajal with allowing people or communities time before the consequences of their conduct arrive.

Al-Naḥl 16:61 and Fāṭir 35:45 state that if people were immediately held accountable for what they had done, a different condition would result. Instead, they are allowed time until an ajalin musammā.

Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:53 also discusses the demand to hasten punishment and mentions an appointed time.

These uses show that ajal can denote the time when consequences arrive or the end of the allowance preceding them.

Ajal itself does not mean punishment, however.

Punishment is expressed by other words and clauses; ajal states its appointed time.

Nor does granting time mean approving the conduct of those who receive it.

An allowance of time and a moral judgment are different matters.

Li-kulli ajalin kitāb

Al-Raʿd, 13:38

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلًا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَذُرِّيَّةً ۚ وَمَا كَانَ لِرَسُولٍ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ بِآيَةٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۗ لِكُلِّ أَجَلٍ كِتَابٌ

wa-la-qad arsalnā rusulan min qablika wa-jaʿalnā lahum azwājan wa-dhurriyyatan; wa-mā kāna li-rasūlin an yaʾtiya bi-āyatin illā bi-idhni allāhi; li-kulli ajalin kitāb

“We certainly sent Messengers before you and gave them spouses and descendants. No Messenger can bring a sign except by permission of The God. For every appointed time there is a writing and decree.”

Here ajal accompanies kitāb.

Kitāb belongs to ك ت ب (K T B), however; its meaning should not become part of ajal itself.

The context concerns Messengers, permission of The God, and the coming of signs.

Li-kulli ajalin kitāb can therefore concern matters being appointed for their own times.

Without examining the network of verses, however, the sentence should not be converted into the existence of a separate physical book for every hour of human life.

The next verse also mentions effacement, confirmation, and Umm al-Kitāb, the Mother of the Book. The relationship between these verses is a separate subject of study.

The root ajal alone expresses only a period or appointed time, not the complete nature of divine recording and decree.

The appointed term of the sun and moon

Al-Raʿd 13:2, Luqmān 31:29, Fāṭir 35:13, and Al-Zumar 39:5 connect the movement of the sun and moon with an ajalin musammā.

They contain كُلٌّ يَجْرِي لِأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (kullun yajrī li-ajalin musammā), or a related construction.

The expression presents the movement of these two celestial phenomena as associated with an appointed time or limit.

Ajal itself does not establish that the intended meaning must be the end of the sun’s life according to a particular astrophysical model.

Contextual readings may involve a period of movement, the end of the present order, or an appointed time within the order of creation.

Identifying the precise referent requires examining yajrī, “runs,” the construction li-ajal, other verses about the sun and moon, and the context of the Resurrection.

“Until an appointed time” or “for a specified period” is therefore more appropriate in basic translation than adding a particular scientific prediction.

The heavens, the earth, and an appointed term

Al-Rūm 30:8 and Al-Aḥqāf 46:3 associate the creation of the heavens and the earth with truth and an ajalin musammā.

Here too, ajal is not confined to one person’s life.

The subject is the wider order of creation and a period or time appointed for it.

This use does not yield a numerical date for the end of the world.

Nor should ajal be translated as creation itself. Creation is expressed by khalaqa, while the appointed time is expressed by ajal.

Li-ayyi yawmin ujjilat

Al-Mursalāt, 77:12

لِأَيِّ يَوْمٍ أُجِّلَتْ

li-ayyi yawmin ujjilat

“To which day have they been deferred?”

The preceding verse mentions the Messengers; the following verse identifies Yawm al-Faṣl, the Day of Decision.

The passive verb ujjilat therefore concerns an affair or appointment being referred to the Day of Decision.

The verb itself does not mean to judge, however.

Nor does the passive construction imply that the one appointing the time is unknown to the audience or beyond divine knowledge. A passive verb in Arabic can foreground the event itself or its appointed time.

Here the question concerns the day to which the matter has been deferred.

“Have been postponed” or “have been deferred” are therefore close equivalents. The precise referent of the verb’s implicit pronoun and its relationship to the preceding verse must be determined contextually.

6. Min ajli dhālik: cause, not time

Al-Māʾidah, 5:32

مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَا النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ

min ajli dhālika katabnā ʿalā banī isrāʾīla annahu man qatala nafsan bi-ghayri nafsin aw fasādin fī al-arḍi fa-ka-annamā qatala al-nāsa jamīʿan wa-man aḥyāhā fa-ka-annamā aḥyā al-nāsa jamīʿan; wa-la-qad jāʾathum rusulunā bi-al-bayyināti thumma inna kathīran minhum baʿda dhālika fī al-arḍi la-musrifūn

“For that reason, We prescribed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a human being, except on account of killing another person or corruption in the land, is as though he had killed all people; and whoever keeps a human being alive is as though he had kept all people alive. Our Messengers certainly came to them with clear signs; yet afterward many of them transgressed in the land.”

This is the only Qur’anic occurrence of ajl with sukūn on the jīm in the causal sense.

The meaning of min ajl

In Arabic, min ajli dhālik means “because of that” or “for that reason.”

In the verse, the expression refers to a preceding event.

The preceding verses recount the two children of Adam and one killing the other.

“For that reason” therefore connects that account with the prescription stated afterward.

Here, however, ajl does not mean an allowance of time or the end of life.

“Until that time” or “after the period expires” should not replace it.

Why is this use distinct from the temporal meaning?

Arabic distinguishes أَجَل (ajal), a period, from أَجْل (ajl) in the causal construction through vocalization and use.

The preposition min also helps express origin and cause in this phrase.

Historically, some lexicographers connected the causal meaning with an injurious act or an event that produced a consequence.

On this explanation, min ajl refers to an act that caused another matter.

That historical connection should nevertheless not be extended with certainty to every temporal use.

In Al-Māʾidah 5:32, the contextual meaning is clear: because of the event mentioned.

Is cause part of the meaning of “killing” itself?

No.

Min ajli dhālik expresses the causal relationship between the account and the following prescription.

Qatl, killing, belongs to ق ت ل (Q T L). Ḥayāh, life, and iḥyāʾ, keeping or bringing alive, both belong to ح ي ي (Ḥ Y Y), a family distinct from أ ج ل.

These words should be examined in their own independent studies.

The verse also explicitly states that the prescription was laid upon the Children of Israel. Without examining other verses, all its legal details should not automatically be generalized to every society and circumstance.

Nevertheless, the great sanctity of human life and the gravity of wrongful killing are evident in the verse’s construction.

This conclusion comes from the complete verse’s content, not from the root أ ج ل alone.

7. Related words and translation proposals

Ajal and waqt

Study of W Q T

وَقْت (waqt) in Arabic refers to the time specified for an action or event.

Ajal can likewise denote an appointed time.

In many uses of ajal, however, the limited duration and its endpoint are more prominent.

For example, the ajal of a debt is the obligation’s maturity, whereas waqt can refer to when something is done, its beginning, or a stage in a program.

The distinction is not absolute, but it helps translation.

Ajal and ḥīn

Study of Ḥ Y N

حِين (ḥīn) in Arabic refers to a time or period that may be short or long.

Ajal is more closely associated with a period or time whose limit has been appointed.

Structurally, ilā ajalin musammā is therefore more specifically determined than the general expression “until a time.”

This distinction should not imply that every ḥīn is wholly unspecified or that every ajal is known to human beings.

An ajal may be appointed with The God while its precise time remains unknown to people.

Ajal and muddah

Study of M D D

مُدَّة (muddah) in Arabic names an extent of time.

Ajal can also denote a period but sometimes emphasizes its endpoint.

In Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:28, al-ajalayni concerns two contractual periods.

In Al-Munāfiqūn 63:11, the arrival of the ajal concerns the end of life’s opportunity.

“Period” may therefore be more natural in one instance and “deadline” or “end of life” in the other.

Ajal and mawʿid

Study of W ʿ D

مَوْعِد (mawʿid) comes from و ع د (W ʿ D) and concerns a promise or an appointment in time.

Ajal can also denote the appointed time of an event.

But not every ajal necessarily constitutes a promise between two people.

A lifespan, the end of a waiting period, or the appointed time of a natural phenomenon can be called ajal without involving a promise or arrangement between human parties.

Ajal and qaḍāʾ

Study of Q Ḍ Y

قضاء (qaḍāʾ) comes from ق ض ي (Q Ḍ Y) and concerns fulfilling, concluding, and judging in Arabic.

In قَضَىٰ أَجَلًا (qaḍā ajalan), the verb qaḍā and the noun ajal occur together.

In Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:29, Mūsā also completes his contractual period.

Qaḍāʾ and ajal should therefore not be treated as complete synonyms.

Qaḍāʾ expresses appointing or fulfilling in its particular context; ajal is the relevant period or appointed time.

Ajal and taʾkhīr

Study of ʾ KH R

Taʾkhīr comes from أ خ ر (ʾ KH R) and concerns putting something later.

Taʾjīl can also refer something to the future.

In its recognized use, however, taʾjīl concerns assigning an appointed time, whereas taʾkhīr may simply express something being later than another time or sequence.

Nūḥ 71:4 contains both families: allowing time until an ajalin musammā, and not delaying the final appointed time once it arrives.

Their coexistence shows that the words are related in meaning but have different roles.

ʾ J L and ʿ J L

Study of ʿ J L

أ ج ل (ʾ J L) and ع ج ل (ʿ J L) resemble one another in letters and sound but are distinct roots.

Ajal concerns a period or appointed time and, in another branch, cause.

ʿ J L concerns haste and doing something quickly.

Ājil contrasts with ʿājil, but the contrast does not make the two families identical.

Ajal should therefore not be translated as haste or hurry.

Translation proposals for Forqan

One fixed English equivalent is insufficient for this root’s Qur’anic uses.

For debts and financial obligations, “maturity,” “deadline,” or “appointed time” is appropriate.

In Mūsā’s agreement, “period” or “appointed term” is more precise.

In verses concerning life’s end, “appointed term,” “the end of the lifespan,” or, where context is clear, “the time of death” is suitable. Death should nevertheless not be made the word’s invariable lexical meaning.

In verses about communities, “appointed time” or “the end of that community’s allotted time” is appropriate, without predetermining that every individual member’s death is intended.

For the sun, moon, and creation, “until an appointed time” or “for a specified period” is natural.

In Al-Māʾidah 5:32, “for that reason” or “because of that” clearly renders min ajli dhālik.

In Al-Anʿām 6:128, ajjalta lanā can be translated as “You had appointed for us.”

In Al-Mursalāt 77:12, ujjilat concerns something being referred to an appointed day. “Have been postponed” or “have been deferred” is appropriate.

In Āl ʿImrān 3:145, kitāban muʾajjalan is close to “a written decree with an appointed time.”

The following forms are proposed for the word-by-word boxes:

• أَجَل (ajal): an appointed period or time; where appropriate, the end of that period.
• أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (ajalin musammā): a specified period or appointed deadline.
• أَجَلَيْن (ajalayni): two appointed periods.
• أَجَّلَ (ajjala): assigned something a time or deferred it to an appointed time.
• مُؤَجَّل (muʾajjal): assigned an appointed time.
• مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ (min ajli dhālik): for that reason; because of that.

Conclusion

In its principal Qur’anic use, the root أ ج ل concerns an appointed period, temporal limit, or deadline.

The period may be specified for a debt, contract, waiting period, human life, a community’s allotted time, or an event in the world.

Many verses associate ajal with the end of an opportunity. This association should not cause the word always to be translated as death.

In Al-Baqarah 2:282, ajal is a debt’s maturity. In Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:28, the two terms are two contractual periods. In Al-Ṭalāq 65:4, the ajal of pregnant women is specified through the end of pregnancy and childbirth.

In Āl ʿImrān 3:145 and Al-Munāfiqūn 63:11, ajal concerns the end of human life.

In Al-Aʿrāf 7:34, ajal is attributed to a community. Verses about the sun, moon, and creation introduce an appointed period or time for phenomena in the world.

This range shows that ajal expresses an event’s temporal limit or period before it names any particular event.

Ajal itself must also be distinguished from its accompanying descriptions. Musammā expresses that the time is specified, qarīb its temporal nearness, and maʿdūd its limited, countable character. These features should not be transferred without evidence to every use of ajal.

In Al-Māʾidah 5:32, ajl in min ajli dhālik has another meaning: cause or reason. This use should not be equated with a period or deadline.

Early Arabic also records such meanings as the response “yes,” a herd of wild animals, neck pain, and a water-storage basin under this family. Their existence shows that every use need not be reduced to an invented historical image.

For Forqan, the basic definition of this family is as follows: in temporal usage, ajal is the period or temporal limit appointed for something, sometimes emphasizing the period itself and sometimes its deadline or endpoint. Ajjala means assigning something a time or referring it to an appointed time; muʾajjal describes something assigned such a time. Ajl in the causal construction expresses cause or reason, distinct from the temporal use.

In translating the Qur’an, first ask what the ajal belongs to: life, debt, waiting, a contract, a community, or another event. The subject and the sentence’s construction clarify which of “period,” “time allowed,” “deadline,” “end of life,” or “appointed time” conveys the verse’s meaning most precisely.